*I don’t want to overlook Annie Ross’ pioneering vocalese contributions
from the early 1950s, when she crafted original, witty lyrics to Wardell
Gray’s recordings of “Twisted,” “Farmer’s Market,” and “Jackie.”

Bob Bernotas

August 2017
Hi Friends —
vocalese: a genre of jazz singing in which lyrics are written and sung to
melodies that originally were improvised instrumental jazz solos
Yes, there are a few earlier, one-off instances of vocalese writing
and singing, but Eddie Jefferson is understood to have invented
the genre sometime in the 1940s. (But not the word — he
preferred “vocalmentals.”) Jon Hendricks, largely through his
work with the trio, Lambert, Hendricks, and Ross, during the
1950s and ‘60s is the genre’s most prolific exponent. And it is
about time the two of them were included in any serious
discussion of American song’s most important lyricists.*
People always ask, “Which comes first, the words or the
music?” (Sammy Cahn always answered, “The money!”) Well,
Lorenz Hart wrote lyrics to Richard Rodgers’ melodies, but then
Rodgers set melodies to Oscar Hammerstein’s lyrics. Anyway,
few lyricists ever tried to put words to music as complex as solos
by James Moody or Miles Davis, or full performances by the
Duke Ellington Orchestra or the Horace Silver Quintet. But
that’s exactly what Eddie Jefferson and Jon Hendricks did.
Their methods were slightly different, but equally inventive. Eddie
wrote in a decidedly “stream of consciousness” manner, letting
the flow and the contour of a particular solo carry his imagination
to wherever it might take him. Jon generally found his inspiration
in the songs’ titles, often spinning them into clever threecharacter
“plays” for himself, Dave Lambert, and Annie Ross.
“It’s like opera,” he once mused, “except it’s bopera.”
Now add to their creativity, complexity, and immense body of
work one more credential: their connection to music beyond jazz.
If you strip away the melody — but don’t, OK? — you can hear
the roots of rap in Eddie’s lyric to James Moody’s solo on “Lester
Leaps In,” retitled “I Got the Blues.” And Jon’s erudite, upbeat,
life-affirming lyrics, like the one he wrote to Miles Davis’ “Four,”
are echoed in the positive messages of funk hits like Earth, Wind
& Fire’s “Shining Star,” Tower of Power’s “What is Hip?” and Sly
and the Family Stone’s “Everybody Is a Star.”
Poet-historian Hilaire Belloc declared, “It is the best of all trades
to make songs, and the second best to sing them.” And Eddie
Jefferson and Jon Hendricks have done both with as much skill
and artistry as any man or woman who ever put words to music.
Stay cool, and keep list’nin’,
Bob Bernotas - Just Jazz e-Newsletter